Free Love

No, I'm not talking about the 60's...I'm not talking about their motto of"Make Love, Not War".

 I'm talking about the here and the now. I'm talking about left wing and right wing Jews. I'm talking about religious and not religious Jews. Chareidi (Ultra Orthodox) and Modern Orthodox. I'm talking about the scary, SCARY state of affairs our people are in. We are in danger. The world is looking at us through a magnifying glass. We are being watched by hawks. Our cousins want us out of our land. OUR land. The land that is rightfully ours. And the countries of the world are either bystanders who won't get involved or they're openly critical of every move we make.

We need to STOP in our tracks and look within. Forget the world for a minute. Look at your brothers and your sisters who have different political opinions than you. Look at your fellow Jews who are more or less observant than you are. How do you communicate with them? In your heart of hearts, in the depths of your soul, what do you feel about a Jew who does everything differently than you? We MUST do a cheshbon hanefesh, an accounting of the soul. We must swallow our pride and find the good in our brothers and our sisters, even if we don't agree with them...We need to unite as a people. As a nation. Our future is at stake and it's up to US, not the world, to stand up and be strong.

Tomorrow is going to be a very emotionally charged day, as our people welcome Gilad Shalit back home (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit). Israel and Hamas sealed a deal last week through Egyptian mediation that will see Shalit freed in exchange for 1,027 Arab prisoners, many of them involved in masterminding or carrying out terror attacks against Israelis. To say the least, the exchange is bittersweet. Speaking for myself, I am thrilled that Gilad will go home to his family, where he belongs. But the price is so hard to swallow. The people being freed are not in jail for parking or traffic violations. These are monsters.  905 life sentences and more than 4,400 years in jail for the ones who don't have life sentences. Our people are in grave danger, as these monsters go back to resume their lives and plan the next attacks to kill off as many of us as possible.


To my fellow brothers and sisters, stop arguing. Stop fighting. Open yourselves up to other side with listening hearts. We have to jack up the AHAVAT CHINAM around here. No more" Those darn lefties, ready to give away my country on a silver platter"...No more" Those racist settlers, they deserve whatever comes to them"...No more" Those Chareidi parasites, sitting and learning Torah all day while my son is in the field, risking his life". Instead, look for the good in your fellow Jew. There's a lot of good and a lot of beauty in every single one of us. We all have that Pintele Yid in us, that G-dly spark. I, for one, will continue to look for opportunities to show love to Jews who are very different than I am. That's my small piece towards this AHAVAT CHINAM puzzle. I will leave the rest up to all of you, my dear readers and to Abaleh.


After all, אין לנו על מי להשאן אלא על אבינו שבשמים

We have no one to lean on, aside from our Father in Heaven.


With Love,
Cigal